AC/DC
Australia, 1973–now
Australian band formed in 1973 around the brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their records, including Highway to Hell and Back in Black, reduce Chuck Berry's rhythm guitar and Chicago blues to a stripped, riff-based hard rock.
MusicRoots documents 6 artists who influenced AC/DC and 7 artists AC/DC influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced AC/DC?
- Chuck Berry — Chuck Berry's rock'n'roll DNA — short double-stop phrases, stage energy, the duckwalk — is the most visible influence on Angus Young.
- Muddy Waters — From Muddy Waters's electric Chicago blues the Youngs took the taste for emotionally charged phrases built from few elements.
- The Rolling Stones — The Stones were Malcolm Young's lifelong favourite — 'The Stones and The Who, and that's about it' — and Keith Richards a direct model for Angus.
- The Who — The Who were the other half of Malcolm Young's stated listening — 'The Stones and The Who, and that's about it'.
- Bo Diddley — Bo Diddley's 'I'm a Man' is the acknowledged template behind 'Whole Lotta Rosie' — the primal R&B beat in AC/DC's engine.
- Elvis Presley — Elvis Presley's 'Trouble' is a documented source the Youngs named behind 'Whole Lotta Rosie' — 1950s rock'n'roll swagger at AC/DC's root.
Which artists did AC/DC influence?
- The Cult — AC/DC's raw hard rock was the explicit target of Electric — Rick Rubin asked The Cult to record something akin to AC/DC and stripped Duffy's guitar of effects.
- L7 — Sparks on the split in the band: 'I liked catchier pop, surf, Ramones type of stuff. Suzi liked more heavy stuff, kind of blues based — she brought the Sabbath.' AC/DC and Hawkwind were the rest of what Gardner wanted to play.
- Alice in Chains — Cantrell on what he grew up on: 'By that time, I was heavily into rock, like AC/DC and Kiss and all the English metal. And I grew up on bands that wrote good riffs.' The riff is the unit of an Alice in Chains song.
- W.A.S.P. — AC/DC's high-voltage hard rock was among the sonic foundations Lawless named under W.A.S.P.'s theatrics.
- Jet — Fellow Australians AC/DC gave Jet their hard-rock crunch and no-frills riffing.
- Stereophonics — AC/DC's hard-rock riffing was a formative influence on Kelly Jones — he has said his family bought him AC/DC records every birthday, and their crunch drives Stereophonics' heavier side.
- Lord Tracy — Named in the same review among the record's influences.